the cambridge companion to
M A RT I N L U T H E R
Edited by Donald K. McKim
publi s hed by the pres s s yndic at e of t he unive rs it y of c am bridge
The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge cb2 1rp, United Kingdom
ca mbri dge uni vers i ty pre s s
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C Cambridge University Press 2003
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First published 2003
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Contents
Notes on contributors page xi
Preface xv
Chronology xvii
List of abbreviations xviii
Part I Luther’s life and context
1 Luther’s life 3
al b r e ch t b e u te l
translated by katharina gustavs
2 Luther’s Wittenberg 20
h e l mar ju ngh an s
translated by katharina gustavs
Part II Luther’s work
3 Luther’s writings 39
timothy f. lull
4 Luther as Bible translator 62
e r ic w. grit sc h
5 Luther as an interpreter of Holy Scripture 73
oswal d baye r
translated by mark mattes
6 Luther’s theology 86
marku s wr ie dt
translated by katharina gustavs
7 Luther’s moral theology 120
b e rnd wanne n w e t sc h
8 Luther as preacher of the Word of God 136
f r e d w. me u se r
9 Luther’s spiritual journey 149
jane e . st roh l
ix
x Contents
10 Luther’s struggle with social-ethical issues 165
cart e r li n dbe rg
11 Luther’s political encounters 179
david m. whitford
12 Luther’s polemical controversies 192
mar k u . e dwards, j r.
Part III After Luther
13 Luther’s function in an age of confessionalization 209
rob e rt ko lb
14 The legacy of Martin Luther 227
hans j. hillerbrand
15 Approaching Luther 240
jame s ar n e n e st i n g e n
Part IV Luther today
16 Luther and modern church history 259
jame s m. ki t t e lso n
17 Luther’s contemporary theological significance 272
rob e rt w. j e n so n
18 Luther in the worldwide church today 289
g ü nt h e r g assm an n
Select bibliography 304
Index 313
1 Luther’s life
albrecht beutel
Translated by Katharina Gustavs
years as a student
From the outside, Luther’s life passed by simply and steadily.1 With few
exceptions, his whole life took place within the territories of Thuringia and
Saxony, mostly in Wittenberg, the electoral capital at the Elbe river, and
its surroundings. Only a few journeys led Luther beyond this small sphere
of life: on behalf of his order to Rome (1510/11), to Cologne (1512) and
Heidelberg (1518); later on behalf of a Reformation consensus to Marburg
(1529), and also on his own behalf to Augsburg (1518) and Worms (1521).
Equally, with regard to his profession, Luther’s was a remarkable and steady
character. From entering the monastery through to his last moment, Luther
always remained a man of the word: as a preacher, professor and writer.
During Luther’s life the horizon of world history and humanities was
in the process of becoming radically changed. The following names must
stand for many others representing this era: the two emperors Maximilian I
and Charles V, the popes Leo X, Clemens VII and Paul III (Council of Trent),
as well as the names of such artists and scientists as Raphael, Michelangelo,
Dürer, Copernicus and Paracelsus. However, as far as Luther is concerned
these changes could be deceptive because his childhood and youth had not
been touched by the spirit of humanism or of the Renaissance. Limited to the
provincial surroundings of his hometown, Luther grew up as a typical child
of the late Middle Ages – just like thousands of other boys around him.
On November 10, 1483 Luther was born as the eldest of probably nine
sisters and brothers at Eisleben in what was then the county of Mansfeld.
The next morning he was baptized and named Martin after the saint of
that day. Coming from a Thuringian family of farmers, his father Hans
Luder, not being entitled to inherit, sought his luck in one of the most
advanced business opportunities: the copper mines of Mansfeld. During the
course of his life he was able to gain a well-respected economic and social
position through enormous hard work and thrift. We know only a very little
about his wife Margarethe, Luther’s mother. She came from a family named
3
4 Albrecht Beutel
Lindemann, resident in Eisenach. As the wife of a venturesome entrepreneur
and as mother of her large family, she had to work hard throughout her
whole lifetime. Martin Luther was well aware of the fact that, as he put it,
the bitter sweat of his parents had made it possible for him to go to the
university.
Their parenting principles were strict, but not unusual for that time.
Luther does not seem to have come to any harm. In fact, he honored the
memory of his parents with love and respect. The devotional life at home
also followed common church practices. Luther lived most of his life away
from his parents’ home after he turned fourteen.
Between about 1490 and 1497 Luther attended the town school in Mansfeld. Thereafter his father sent him to Magdeburg, probably because one
of his friends also changed to the cathedral school there. Luther found accommodation with the “Brethren of the Common Life,” a modern religious
movement emanating from the Netherlands. Only a year later he moved
to the parish school of St. George in Eisenach. Closeness to his mother’s
relatives may have played a role in this decision. Later Luther criticized the
rigidity in late medieval schools. At any rate he owed them his proficiency
in the Latin language, his familiarity with ancient Christian culture and his
love for poetry and music.
In spring 1501 Luther enrolled at the University of Erfurt. He stayed at a
hostel, whose life followed strict monastic rules. To the prerequisite studies
of liberal arts, which were mandatory for any prospective theologian, lawyer,
or medical doctor, Luther devoted himself passionately. And after four years,
in the shortest time possible, he graduated with excellence. When he was
awarded his master’s degree in spring 1505, he took second place out of
seventeen candidates.
Then Luther turned toward the study of law, as was his father’s desire.
After having visited his parents, Luther got caught in a summer thunderstorm nearby Stotternheim on his way back home on July 2, 1505. A lightning bolt, which struck right beside him, scared him to death and caused
him to vow: “Help me, Saint Anna, I will become a monk!” That Luther entered the monastery, but not before another fifteen days had passed, shows
that he did not act under the effect of mere emotions, but that he became a
monk only after careful self-examination. We will have to see his decision
against the background of a deep existential fear, whose resolution he tried
to force but whose dramatic expression it only became, since even in the
Erfurt convent of the Augustinian Hermits, he was barred from the religious
peace for which he had longed.
Luther’s father was outraged by his son’s unexpected turn: All plans he
had made for his eldest son’s life and career seemed to be thwarted. This
Luther’s life 5
conflict would cast a shadow over the relationship between father and son
for many years to come and only in 1525 when Luther got married was it
finally resolved.
During his first year as a novice, Luther subjected himself to an intense
study of the Bible. He also familiarized himself with the rules and regulations
of the monastic life. The strict way of living, which was predominant there,
did not pose any problems to him. But soon it became apparent that even the
most painstaking obedience to the three monastic vows Luther had taken at
his profession (obedience, poverty, chastity) did not lead to the inner peace
for which he had longed. An excessively pursued practice of confessing
did not help either. It only increased his religious distress. Thus it was no
coincidence that Luther got stuck in the high prayer during the first mass he
had to read as a newly ordained priest. The young man who all of a sudden
found himself facing God so closely was left speechless in his fear. Filled
with awe of the sacred he tried to run away from the liturgy but his teacher
admonished him to stay and finish mass.
In the figure of the pantocrator – the ruling and judging Christ – Luther’s
fear of God became symbolically intensified. The anxieties and melancholies
that haunted Luther throughout his entire life were fed from this image of
the Judge of the World, so real for him during his early years. Yet Luther
never lost himself to his religious anxieties. He rather felt spurred on to
study the Bible more intensely. Unlike the approach of the scholastic tradition, Luther would not read the Scriptures for intellectual purposes but for
existential meditation. Even later the professors at Wittenberg were always
quite impressed by their young colleague’s outstanding knowledge of the
Bible. The fact that Luther felt at home in this book more than in any other
became the characteristic trademark of his theology: No matter what he
read from the fathers and teachers of the church, he would always relate it
to the Bible and compare it with its original message.
In 1507, the same year he was ordained as a priest, Luther was selected
by his superior to study theology. In Erfurt the Augustinian Hermits had
established a general course of studies for their members. As a doctor of
theology the respective chair had to fill the professorship of theology at the
university as well. Through the works of Gabriel Biel, also von Ockham,
Duns Scotus, Petrus of Ailly and Thomas Aquinas, Luther was introduced
to Christian dogmatics. However, Augustine was the figure who became
of utmost importance to Luther. Having studied his works most diligently,
Luther preferred him over all other scholastics, turning him King’s evidence
for his reformational renewal. In addition to these scholastics, he also came
in contact with the Aeropagitic (Dionysios, Gerson), the Roman (Bernhard
von Clairvaux) and the German mysticism (Tauler) as well as the German
6 Albrecht Beutel
humanism (Reuchlin, Wimpfeling), though in a more limited, philologyoriented manner.
At that time Johannes von Staupitz served as vicar general of the German
monasteries of the Augustinian Hermits. Today there is still very little
known about his theology, which was highly influenced by Augustine. He
attached great importance to the study of the Bible in his monasteries. To
Luther he became an important supporter and father confessor, seeking to
alleviate Luther’s fear of punishment and eternal damnation by pointing
out that God only intends to punish the sinful nature in humans but seeks
to win the person of the sinner for himself. In a somewhat modified manner
this distinction can also be found later in Luther’s writings. At one point
Luther tormented himself with an almost maniacal urge to confess, when
von Staupitz, a pastor of high standing, objected that he could not even
produce any real sins, but just hobbling stuff and puppet’s sins.
From fall 1508 to fall 1509 Luther was sent to the newly established
university in Wittenberg where the Augustinian Hermits from Erfurt were
in charge of one of the teaching positions. Due to a temporary vacancy
Luther had to fill in as a Master of Arts, reading about the Nicomachean
Ethics of Aristotle. After this interim in Wittenberg, Luther returned to the
monastery in Erfurt. From there he accompanied an older fellow friar on a
trip to Rome in winter 1510/11, where the latter was engaged by his order
to settle business with the curia. Only in the late summer of 1511 did Luther
move for good into the city which would make history through him and in
which he himself would make history.
As his very own creation Elector Frederick the Wise had established a
new university in Wittenberg in 1502, for which the imperial privilege had
been granted whereas papal confirmation of the university was not given
until 1507. Georg Spalatin, electoral court chaplain and tutor of the princes,
became the crucial intermediary between court and university. Though
Spalatin also cherished other theological ideas at first, Luther did not have
much trouble in winning him for his own opinions. The bond of friendship that grew immediately between them turned out to be an essential
cornerstone of the Reformation, lasting through the storms of decades.
In Wittenberg the two convents of the mendicant orders were each
engaged with a professorship in theology. For the Augustinian hermits von
Staupitz was the one giving the lectures. However, he wished to free himself
from this responsibility and it was obvious he built Luther up into being his
successor right from the start. Under his spiritual guidance Luther graduated
through all levels of theology studies up to and including his doctorate –
and all that within the shortest time frame possible, as five years of study
were the minimum requirement.
Luther’s life 7
On October 18 and 19, 1512 Luther was solemnly awarded his doctor of
theology. The required fee of fifty guilders was paid by the elector himself.
With the doctorate came the right of independent academic work. Anyone
with a doctoral degree was entitled to voice his own opinion, which could
then be heard in theological disputes – of course this was only as long as it
resonated within the accepted teachings of the church. Even though at first
Luther was most reluctant to pursue the academic career intended for him,
it did not take him long to adjust and he would refer to his doctoral degree
without any reservation whenever his authority as a teacher was questioned,
be it toward the papal legate Cajetan, the elector Albert of Mainz, or the pope
himself.
With his promotion Luther entered into a stage of his life which was
characterized by extremely intense academic and spiritual work. Beside his
academic responsibilities, he already faced an enormous workload as subprior and chairman of the general course of studies in Wittenberg, adding
even more duties when he became district vicar of his order in 1515.
a t i m e o f n e w d e p a r t u r e s ( 1512–21)
Luther’s series of early lectures – first on Psalms (1513/14), then on
the Letters to the Romans (1515/16), Galatians (1516/17) and Hebrews
(1517/18) – is an invaluable source of information for understanding Reformation theology. Those lectures document an exciting and far-reaching
process during whose course of discoveries Luther got out of the rut of conventional theology more rigorously with each new insight: He interpreted
the passages not with a scholastic’s eye any more, but from the Bible’s perspective, not on the background of traditional interpretations by church
authorities, but within the framework of the whole biblical tradition. The
debate as to whether Luther experienced his Reformation breakthrough in
1514/15 or somewhat later, in 1518, which has not been settled as yet, loses
more and more of its importance when Luther’s Reformation theology is not
looked at as a sudden event, which might even have occurred overnight, but
rather as a complex developmental process spreading out over several years,
furthering sudden insights on a continuous basis. Without a doubt the most
famous discovery of all is about God’s righteousness (Rom. 1:17) – which
is not based on demanding but on giving, not on the law but on the gospel.
Luther’s early lectures seemed to make a fundamental reform of the theological course of studies absolutely necessary. His criticism of Aristotelian
prerequisites for thinking grew steadily into a criticism of the entire scholastic theology. The call for a new reform of the theological study course was the
inevitable consequence: away from Aristotelianism and the interpretation
8 Albrecht Beutel
of the Lombard’s Sentences toward a study of the Bible and, with a proper
distance, the church fathers as well. Luther’s criticism found its preliminary
peak in his – partly harshly termed – disputation theses “Against Scholastic
Theology,”2 which were published in September 1517, only two months
before his famous Ninety-five Theses “On the Power of Indulgences” were
announced, triggering a snowball effect. Strangely enough, at this time everything appeared to remain largely calm on the outside.
Beside his academic work Luther had also assumed responsibility for
the parish of Wittenberg as a preacher. In their inseparable connectedness
these two, lectern and pulpit, formed together the decisive continuum of
Luther’s theological existence. No later than 1514 he must have already
filled in the preaching position at the town church of Wittenberg. Some of
his sermons Luther sent immediately to press. However, the majority of his
sermons – in the end somewhat over 2,000 – were handed down to us in
form of shorthand transcripts. As a preacher Luther preferred a homiletic
approach, which would closely follow the Bible passage. His interpretations
were crafted in a down-to-earth manner without rhetorical pathos, but full of
experiences from real life and faith. Beside the interpretation of individual
passages from the Bible, Luther also liked to teach about central texts such
as the Ten Commandments or the Lord’s Prayer. Those catechistic series of
sermons formed the basis from which, later, the two catechisms grew.
The turning point in society, which Luther brought about not as an
act of daring but unintentionally, was kicked off by his criticism of the
widespread but not canonized practice of selling indulgences. By means
of indulgences the church offered an opportunity to compensate for one’s
unatoned sin and punishments through money. Pope Leo X had reissued a
plenary indulgence in 1515 for, among other territories, the church province
of Magdeburg, near to Wittenberg. Many members of Luther’s parish made
eager use of this opportunity, lulling them into a false sense of religious
certainty. First of all, Luther voiced his pastoral concerns from the pulpit.
On October 31, 1517 he presented his critique of the indulgences in a concerned letter to Margrave Albert of Brandenburg, who was at the same time
Archbishop of Mainz as well as of Magdeburg. His Ninety-five Theses “On
the Power of Indulgences”3 were also enclosed in this letter. In his writing he
called repentance a lifelong attitude expected of Christians. He expressed
his particular disapproval of the fact that humans were more frightened
of punishments set by the church than of sin whose forgiveness lies in
God’s power alone. Thus Luther’s criticism of the indulgences aimed at the
church’s instrumentalization of Christian repentance.
Whether Luther actually posted his Ninety-five Theses on the castle
church of Wittenberg remains uncertain – Melanchthon at least talks about
Luther’s life 9
that only decades later. However, it is beyond any doubt that his theses
spread throughout all Germany in no time and launched a meteoric development after they had been released at the end of 1517 and explained in
German by Luther in March 1518.4 This marks the beginning of Luther’s
unprecedented writing activities. At the end of April 1518, when he visited
his order’s chapter in Heidelberg, he was already a famous man. With his
theses of the “Heidelberg Disputation,” in which he gave the theology of
the cross as promoted by him a distinct image, he won some of his most
important connections in southern Germany, among them Johannes Brenz,
Martin Bucer, and Erhard Schnepf.
In summer 1518 Rome opened a trial for heresy against Luther. The situation appeared to be hopeless: The ban of the church would most certainly
be followed by the ban of the empire. Luther asked his territorial ruler,
Elector Frederick the Wise, to lend him his support with the emperor’s
consent so that the whole cause could come to negotiations in Germany.
Frederick complied with his request, and because Rome had political reasons to reach an agreement with Frederick, Luther was indeed examined
by a papal legate on German soil in October 1518, following the Diet of
Augsburg. The interrogations were led by the papal legate Cajetan, a highly
educated Dominican, who had the authority to readmit Luther to the community of the church if he would recant, but also to excommunicate him
if need be. Through it all Luther remained steadfast. Therefore Cajetan demanded that Luther be extradited to Rome. That of course was flatly declined
by Frederick the Wise, who demanded instead that Luther be heard before
an unbiased court of scholars. Since Rome did not intend to bargain away
Frederick’s favor in view of the upcoming imperial election, no particular
measures were enforced in the causa Lutheri for the moment.
Yet the debate continued. In summer 1519 the theology professor
Johann Eck from Ingolstadt sought a confrontation with Luther. In the
“Leipzig Disputation” they first debated about indulgences, but soon moved
on to the question of papal authority. Provoked by Eck, Luther disputed
that the pope’s primacy was grounded in divine right and at the same time
he also disputed the infallibility of the church councils: Those might not
only err, but had certainly already erred, as with the Council of Constance
(1414–18), for example, in the case of the Bohemian Jan Hus. The Leipzig
Disputation helped clarify positions: From now on Duke George of Saxony
saw his enemy in Luther. On the other hand many humanists, such as
Erasmus of Rotterdam, sided with Luther or at least showed solidarity while
keeping their distance.
The breathing space which the year 1520 seemed to grant was used by
Luther to give his theology a more clearly defined image in writing. With the
10 Albrecht Beutel
four main reformational works of this year he showed that he did not only
aim at the criticism of a specific, ill-developed, practice of piety, but that he
was on his way to renew the whole church and theology based on the gospel.
He started out with the treatise Von den guten Werken (Of Good Works).5
This fundamental writing of Reformation ethics Luther clothed in the form
of an interpretation of the Ten Commandments. Faith alone, he stated at the
beginning, is able to fulfill the first commandment. However, when a person
in faith knows herself accepted by God without any contributing works of
her own, she will not need to speculate about attaining God’s salvation
through her own activities, but fueled by her confidence in God will feel
free to do good works as the most natural thing in the world. Following
this line to practice a life lived out of faith, Luther also interpreted all the
remaining nine commandments.
In his writing An den christlichen Adel deutscher Nation von des
christlichen Standes Besserung (To the Christian Nobility of the German
Nation Regarding the Improvement of the Christian Estate),6 Luther encouraged the target group to make active use of their right as secular authorities
to lend their active support to a reform of Christianity. And all the more,
Rome would take cover behind a threefold wall against all legitimate reform
efforts: First, through the unbiblical division of Christianity between priests
and lay people; second, through the claim that the pope holds the supreme
power of teaching; third, through the presumptuous pretension that the
pope alone was allowed to convene a council.
The “Nobility Treatise,” written in German, was selling like hot cakes.
Only a few days after its publication the 4,000 copies of the first printing
were sold out. The Latin writing Von der babylonischen Gefangenschaft der
Kirche (On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church),7 however, was geared
toward a theologically educated audience. In it Luther unfolded the baseline for a biblical understanding of the sacraments, which on the one hand
sorted out confirmation, marriage, ordination and extreme unction, and
with some reservation also repentance, as unbiblical, and on the other hand
announced his fundamental opposition to the Roman Catholic understanding of the Lord’s Supper. The explosive potential of Luther’s new teaching
on the sacraments can hardly be overestimated, not to mention its practical
implications which, for example, would render private masses pointless.
This in turn would also put many priests out of work and in general would
make the separation between clergy and lay people irrelevant. Luther certainly did not have an impious destruction of the church in mind, but rather
its basic Christian renewal. Yet Luther hit the vital nerve of current church
practices. Erasmus commented on this writing with the laconic remark that
the break with Rome could hardly be healed any more.
Luther’s life 11
The best-known writing of them all explored Von der Freiheit eines
Christenmenschen (On the Freedom of a Christian).8 Luther portrayed Christians in their relationship to God as free, in their relationship to the world,
however, as obliged to the service and compassion of their neighbor: Faith
would set humans free from the compulsion for self-justification and therefore would render them free to serve their neighbors. In short, humans
would be free out of faith in love.
The programmatic writings of the Reformation were hereby established. In the same year the proceedings against Luther were taken up again.
As early as 1519 the two universities of Cologne as well as Löwen had already condemned Luther. On June 15, 1520 the bull threatening Luther with
excommunication was finally issued, and in October 1520 it was publicly
announced to have the force of law. Somehow Frederick the Wise was able
to negotiate that Luther was not to be arrested at once but would first be
interrogated at the Diet of Worms. On March 6, 1521 Luther was summoned
before the emperor with the promise of safe-conduct.
The journey to Worms turned into a triumphal procession. Wherever
Luther went, he was eagerly greeted with public interest and good will.
In Leipzig the magistrate welcomed him with an honorary cup of wine,
in Erfurt the rector of the university received him at the city wall with
great splendor as if a prince was to be honored. Here in Erfurt Luther also
preached in his order’s church, which was overfilled to the point of mortal
danger. When the creaking of the wooden gallery caused panic to spread,
with great presence of mind he was able to avert the danger: Please stand
still, he called into the crowd, nothing evil will happen, the devil just tried
to frighten us.
Finally, on April 18, 1521, his crucial appearance in Worms became
reality. In front of the emperor and the imperial estates Luther refused to
follow their demand of renunciation. He did not feel the slightest obligation
to the authority of the pope, he stated. Instead his conscience was bound to
Holy Scripture. Therefore he could not and would not recant as long as his
teachings could not be refuted through Scripture or clear reasoning. With
reference to his conscience as solely obliged to the word of God, Luther had
denied access to human faith to the two world powers, represented by the
emperor and the pope.
Though the effort was made to continue negotiations in Worms, they
did not produce successful results. On April 26, 1521 Luther set out on his
return trip. Shortly before, Frederick the Wise had informed Luther that
he would have him kidnapped on his way home so he could be brought
to safety. This is exactly what happened on May 4: To all appearances an
attack was launched and Luther was taken to his new refuge at the Wartburg
12 Albrecht Beutel
castle. Since Worms, Luther’s life was in danger: The Edict of Worms had
placed him under the imperial ban. Furthermore, all his books were to be
destroyed and a censorship of religious writings was to be introduced in all
territories of the empire.
Soon it became obvious that the orders of the Edict of Worms defied
enforcement in this form. Yet it should not be underestimated that as a legal
instrument they served their purpose in the imperial religious politics until
the Peace of Augsburg in 1555.
a t i m e o f c r e at i v e p row e s s (1521–25)
Often enough Luther found his isolation difficult to bear while locked
up at the Wartburg castle. An immense work schedule was his way of going
about coping with it. He studied the Bible and beside numerous letters he
also wrote some of his most important works, such as the Wartburgspostille (Church Postil)9 – a collection of exemplary sermons – and also an
interpretation of the Magnificat (Luke 1:46–56),10 a broadsheet against the
theologian Latomus von Löwen,11 and a fundamental treatise on monastic
vows,12 whose rejection of the binding force of the vows soon triggered farreaching practical consequences. The exodus from the monasteries began.
But above all Luther translated the New Testament from the Greek
original, a first since Wulfila, at the Wartburg castle within just eleven
weeks. Luther’s German translations of the Bible outshone all those before
him by far: in their linguistic beauty and power, but also in their spiritual
authority and theological precision. Luther’s New Testament was released
in September 1522 (Septembertestament) with 3,000 copies and a rather
high retail price, notwithstanding which it was out of print within a few
days. By December a revised edition (Dezembertestament) was published.
Between 1522 and 1533 Luther’s New Testament saw a total of eighty-five
editions. Soon after 1522 Luther set out to translate the Old Testament.
This endeavour, which engaged several collaborators, came to its fruition
with the first edition of a complete Luther Bible in 1534. It is said that
the print shop of Hans Lufft in Wittenberg sold about 100,000 copies of
the Biblia, das ist die gantze Heilige Schrift Deudsch (Biblia, That Is the
Entire Holy Scripture in German) over fifty years. The number of non-local
reprints or illegal copies, however, is beyond our knowledge. From 1531
Luther presided over a revision commission, whose goal it was to improve
the texts of the German Bible on a continuous basis and whose work can
still come alive for us through some extant commission protocols.
During the creative break Luther had been forced to take at the Wartburg
castle, the call for restructuring the church system became more and more
Luther’s life 13
urgent. Now it all depended on shaping this critical potential, fed from all
those forces across Germany that aligned themselves with Luther’s protest,
into a positive and creative power that would be able to give this new faith,
which claimed to be the truly old and evangelical one, a visible and credible
expression of life. That Luther met this challenge without hesitating and
dedicated his entire life to it without sparing himself is what really shows
his greatness and at the same time has given the cause he represented its
lasting historic meaning.
In 1522 turmoil broke out in Wittenberg. Blind enthusiasm for reform
got out of hand. First Luther responded in written form only, with his
Treue[n] Vermahnung zu allen Christen, sich zu hüten vor Aufruhr und
Emporung (Earnest Exhortation to All Christians Against Insurrection and
Rebellion).13 When he realized that written encouragement would not help,
he came in person. At the beginning of March 1522 Luther preached for a
whole week every single day. Thus he was able to stop the radical iconoclasm, cooling down the very heated feelings. Non vi sed verbo – not
through violence, but through the word alone. This was the message of the
“Invocavit Sermons”14 he preached very eloquently. This was also the start
for the reorganization of the budding church of the Reformation.
Luther reformed the current form of worship service cautiously but
also with consequences. So that the congregation could play its active role
as set forth by the new evangelical approach, Luther initiated congregational
singing in the native language. As early as 1524 the first three evangelical
hymnbooks could be released, with a large portion of the new hymns contributed by Luther himself.
Furthermore, the church assets had also to be reorganized. In Wittenberg a satisfying solution was quickly found. After a temporary trial of the
so-called “begging ordinance,” the Gemeine Kasten (“common chest”) was
established in 1522. This new institution was responsible for the finances
of church and school and also for the social services to be granted in support
of poor local residents. The begging of foreigners was hereby prohibited.
The school system Luther regarded as an excellent object for reform
work. Over and over again he complained about the lack of interest in
schooling among citizens and the magistrates. In 1524 he therefore appealed
An die Ratsherren aller Städte deutschen Lands, daß sie christliche Schulen
aufrichten und halten sollen (To the Councillors of all Cities in Germany that
they Establish and Maintain Christian Schools).15 A solid knowledge of the
original languages of the Bible seemed to be indispensable for a preacher in
Luther’s opinion, and likewise the professional skills to access the whole of
the education currently available. This was the only way that an evangelical
preacher could fulfill his task satisfactorily, just as the opposite opinion,
14 Albrecht Beutel
that of a fanciful and low regard for school and academic education, would
inevitably lead to a bargaining away of the cause of the church. The gospel,
Luther was certain, could not be deliberately trivialized. The educational
responsibility of the Lutheran Church as put forth by Luther became an
essential factor in the modern history of humanities.
Not only for the history of the Reformation, but also for Martin Luther
himself the year 1525 meant a deep caesura. It was marked by the Peasants’
War as well as the suspect role Luther played in it. As early as 1523 Luther
noticed that Thomas Müntzer, one of his followers during the first years,
began to drift further off from him: The rigoristic mysticism that Müntzer
began to spread, Luther regarded as much against the gospel as was its objective, to execute the punishment of the godless through violent-revolutionary
means. At the beginning of 1525 Müntzer became one of the protagonists
of the peasants’ movement in Thuringia.
The Peasants’ War turned into a trial of strength for Luther’s political ethics. Luther regarded most of the peasants’ demands as legitimate.
However, he disliked the fact that the peasants did not voice their concerns
in a political and pragmatic manner, but rather justified their cause from
the Bible, thereby revoking the secular system of laws in the name of the
gospel. Luther asked for a clear distinction between law and religion. When
open rebellion broke loose in Thuringia, Luther became outraged about the
peasants: They had violated their obligation of allegiance and were guilty
of violation of the peace as well as blasphemy. At the same time Luther
admonished the princes to take up their duties as rulers, that is, to protect
the system of laws and to go into action against the rebellious peasants.
Of course, Luther could not hinder the rebellion. After all, we should
not overestimate the influence he exerted over the course of events. However, the consequences followed really hard upon him: The Roman Catholic
party sought to make him legally responsible for the uproar as its spiritual
father. Among Luther’s friends there was irritation due to his hard line.
The peasants were disappointed by him, and most of them remained embittered. From now on Luther kept reminding the secular authorities of their
duties to be the chosen patrons of the Reformation. The Landesherrliche
Kirchenregiment (territorial church government), which grew out of this
development, would define the Protestant church governance in Germany
until 1918.
Beside the Peasants’ War the year 1525 also brought another caesura:
the break with Erasmus. Humanism and Reformation, Erasmus and Luther:
They were a pair of brothers, sometimes arguing but certainly cast in the
same mold. Not only in their criticism of ecclesiastical incrustations and
the traditional scholastic education system were they connected, but also in
Luther’s life 15
their philological dedication toward the original documents of the Western
world and in their deep respect for the ancient languages of the civilized
world.
At first Erasmus had been kindly disposed towards Luther’s appearance.
No later than 1521 he considered the break between Rome and Luther as
irreparable. At best he had preferred to keep silent. Yet because he was
increasingly suspected of being one of Luther’s secret followers and also
because he had felt hurt by some of Luther’s adverse remarks, he could
hardly avoid making a public statement. In September 1524 he began to
take a stand against Luther with his treatise On Free Will.16 The topic was
chosen cleverly: It hit the core of the argument over which Luther had
become involved with the church.
Erasmus opted for the path of the golden mean: On the way to salvation,
many things would have to be ascribed to divine grace and others to human
will. Luther replied with his counter-writing On the Bondage of the Will17
in fall 1525. To the question whether the human will can be thought of
as being free, he also answered: half and half. Unlike Erasmus he drew a
line of categorical distinction: With respect to its relationship to God, the
human will is totally bound. On the other hand, with respect to its dealing
with worldly things, freedom of choice belongs to humans. If humans were
to ascribe freedom to themselves, then, stated Luther, God’s gift of faith
becomes a human effort. According to Luther, this was exactly the position
toward which Erasmus was leaning. For Erasmus, human faith in God would
become a moral postulate.
Erasmus responded once more with a detailed defense statement.18
Luther did not react to it any more. The break between the two scholars
was complete by then. The relationship between the two movements they
represented did not suffer the same fate, fortunately for both.
a t i m e o f t r i a l s (1525–1546)
With respect to his personal life the year 1525 also meant an essential
caesura to Luther. He left monkhood and entered into marriage. From the
union with Katharina von Bora, a former nun, six children were born:
Hans (1526), Elizabeth (1527), Magdalena (1529), Martin (1531), Paul (1533)
and Margarethe (1534). Two of the girls died young: Elizabeth after eight
months, Magdalena – Luther’s beloved Lenchen – in her thirteenth year.
The burden of Luther’s household was immense. In addition to his own
children, he also took in children of both his deceased sister, and an aunt
of his wife. Some students found also accommodation in Luther’s house
as well as varying numbers of foreign guests; these alone could amount
16 Albrecht Beutel
to twenty-five people. This large operation posed a continuous domestic
challenge. And that Luther on the one hand was a man of warm generosity
and on the other hand lacked a sense of finances did not make things
easier. That Luther’s wife not only managed the domestic matters but also
secured their economic survival through husbandry and agriculture, Luther
always appreciated with deep gratification. The relationship between the
two spouses was conducted in mutual respect and happy love. In contrast
to the law of his time, Luther appointed his wife as sole heir in his last will.
Luther’s professional duties took up most of his time. As a preacher, often also as a father confessor or pastor, he served the parish of Wittenberg,
unflustered in his faithful and reliable devotion despite many a dispute.
From 1535 Luther was appointed again permanent dean of the theology
faculty. Highlights of his academic work included the second lecture series
on Galatians (1531) and the great interpretation of the Book of Genesis
(1535–45), which took about ten years and was worked on with many an
interruption. The practice of disputations, which had come to a standstill
during the disturbances of the early 1520s, was revived in 1535. Luther had
been involved in a total of fourteen circular as well as thirteen doctoral
disputations. For the promotion of this literary style, by which the Reformation had been sparked off so to speak, Luther spared neither trouble nor
care. Therefore nowhere else can greater examples of his outstanding writing and editing skills be found than in the series of disputation theses he
drew up. As for the subject matter, he would always aim at the heart of the
Reformation theology: The doctrine of justification, later also Christology,
the doctrine of Trinity, as well as anthropology, were his favorite topics.
Again and again Luther emphasized the importance of disputation exercises for theological teaching and church life. In his opinion they offered prospective pastors and teachers an ideal opportunity to train their
rhetorical-dialectical skills and to prepare them for all those arguments they
would inevitably be confronted with owing to their profession. To Luther
theology was a science of conflict par excellence: Its subject was the dispute
about the truth of faith into which everybody had been baptized and into
which each and every studying Christian would certainly and constantly
become involved. In Luther’s opinion, theological reality would not find its
expression in unconditional neutrality but in a constantly raging debate:
Only in the defense of life-threatening evil would the truth of faith manifest
itself in concrete terms.
After the disaster of the Peasants’ War Luther made an appeal to the
elector to have visitations in the parishes carried out and to urge his villages
to regard the support of schools and churches as at least as important as
the maintenance of bridges and roads. Thus in 1527 the first visitation was
Luther’s life 17
conducted in Electoral Saxony. Luther contributed mainly in written form:
the “German Mass,”19 a new liturgy for baptism and marriage, a prayer book
for children, new editions of hymnals, a series of sermons and of course the
two Catechisms.20
Both Catechisms, the Large as well as the Small, were Luther’s way of
dealing with the depressing visitation results. In view of the alarming lack
of biblical and theological knowledge encountered in the pastors – not to
mention the congregations – Luther set out to tackle the challenge, whose
effort can hardly be overrated, of putting the essence of the Christian faith in
basic sentences without trivializing or reducing it excessively. Fortunately he
could draw on some groundwork he had done earlier, in particular on three
series of sermons from 1528, in which he had worked through the “Principal
Themes of Faith” one after the other: Decalogue, Confession, Lord’s Prayer,
Baptism, and Lord’s Supper. From that source the Large Catechism was
born: a handbook for pastors designed to provide them with the necessary
tools of the theological trade.
The Large Catechism was published in 1529 and the Small Catechism
in the same year. The Small Catechism is first of all nothing more than its
superbly phrased short form for domestic use. The one-page format made it
possible for the individual pages of the entire Catechism to be put up on the
wall as an educational aid for memorizing. With unsurpassed proficiency
Luther knew how to summarize the heart of the Christian faith in concrete
terms, always keeping his readership in mind so that its translation into the
lives of those who would read and memorize the Catechism came alive with
each sentence. “Your book says it all,” commented his wife Käthe. And this
is exactly how it was meant to be.
Beside the Luther Bible the Small Catechism in particular unfolded an
incredible sphere of activity throughout the history of Protestant piety, extending to the dawn of our present time. The scheme of having the question
“What is it?” constantly repeated was meant as an encouragement to render
account to each other for the mystery of faith on a daily basis.
At the Diet of Speyer in 1529 the evangelical imperial estates submitted a formal protestation. An alliance of all “Protestants” came into sight
then, for which Luther assumed as inevitable an agreement on all questions
of teaching. The “Schwabach Articles”21 which he had co-authored with
Melanchthon were supposed to form the foundation. The teaching on the
Lord’s Supper led to an argument with the reformers from Zurich: Do we
celebrate only the memory of Christ – as Zwingli said; or even his bodily
presence – as Luther stated? In October 1529 the “Colloquy of Marburg” was
set up to bring about the indispensable theological as well as political unity.
Yet no agreement could be reached. From now on each party would go their
18 Albrecht Beutel
own way. The consequences caused by the separation between the reformers of Wittenberg and Switzerland have reached right into the twenty-first
century.
The separation from the Roman Catholic Church also remained tormenting. For the Diet of Augsburg in 1530 the emperor had promised a
peaceful settlement of the religious issue. The “Augsburg Confession,” written by Melanchthon since Luther was not allowed to leave his territory of
Electoral Saxony, offered a careful and cautious summary of the Lutheran
teachings. Unlike Melanchthon, Luther regarded the attempt to reconcile
with Rome in theological and ecclesiastical matters as utopian. Therefore
he aimed at a political settlement. The “Peace of Nuremberg” (1532) seemed
to offer that. However, appearances were deceptive: The political reality
only took root with the “Peace of Augsburg” in 1555. Though Luther did not
trust the pope’s plans for a church council, in his “Schmalkald Articles”22 he
did summarize the theological priorities of the Protestants, which ought not
to be given up in the discussion with Rome. They became his theological
will.
Luther’s workload, which rested on his shoulders over decades on end,
was enormous. Just a glance at his written legacy, collected in over one
hundred thick volumes of the complete critical Weimar Edition – equivalent
to one thousand and eight hundred pages per year –, makes one stand in
wonder at so much creative power. Luther always worked on the verge of
exhaustion.
His life became overshadowed by more and more illness. An angina
pectoris ailed him over decades; a severe attack in 1527 had his family
fearing the worst. Among other chronic disorders were headaches as well
as a stubborn kidney disorder, which almost cost his life in 1537 while on
a trip to Schmalkald.
Luther devoted his last energy to the mediation of a fight over an inheritance which had divided the counts of Mansfeld. In the end they asked
Luther to help negotiate between the parties. At the end of 1545 Luther had
become involved with several letters and visits, but in vain.
Thus he set out for another trip to Eisleben in January 1546. This time his
arbitration efforts attained their goal. On February 16, 1546 a first arbitration contract could be signed. The next day Luther was unable to participate
in the signing of the second contract due to acute bodily weakness. In the
night of February 18 he died. Both of the friends who were with him asked
the dying Luther if he would remain steadfast and intended to die in Christ
and the teaching he himself had preached. Luther replied with a clear and
audible: Ja (“Yes”). This was his last word.
Luther’s life 19
During the two following days Luther’s body remained laid out in
Eisleben. Thereafter he was transferred to Wittenberg where he was taken to
the castle and university church with a solemn escort. At the funeral service
Bugenhagen as the town pastor preached in German and Melanchthon representing the university spoke in Latin. Then Luther was interred next to the
pulpit. When the imperial troops entered Wittenberg a year later, Charles
V ordered his soldiers to leave the grave of his adversary untouched. Luther
had shaped his time in an extraordinary way. Now he had become history
himself.
Notes
1. In addition to all the standard published “lives of Luther,” see also Helmar
Junghans, Martin Luther: Exploring His Life and Times, 1483–1546 (Minneapolis:
Fortress Press, 1998).
2. WA 1, 224–28 (Disputatio contra scholasticam theologiam; 1517). Luther’s writings are quoted according to the Weimarer Ausgabe (Weimar Edition), the only
complete critical edition of his works, letters, table talks and Bible interpretations: D. Martin Luther, Werke: Kritische Gesamtausgabe, Weimar: H. Böhlau,
1883–1993 (abbr. WA).
3. WA 1, 233–38 (Disputatio pro declaratione virtutis indulgentiarum; 1517).
4. WA 1, 243–46 (Ein Sermon von Ablaß und Gnade [A Sermon on Indulgences and
Grace]; 1518).
5. WA 6, 202–76 (1520).
6. WA 6, 404–69 (1520).
7. WA 6, 497–573 (De captivitate babylonica ecclesiae Praeludium; 1520).
8. WA 7, 20–38 (1520).
9. WA 10, 1, 1 (1522).
10. WA 7, 544–604 (Das Magnificat verdeutscht und ausgelegt; 1521).
11. WA 8, 43–128 (Rationis Latomianae pro incendiariis Lovaniensis scholae sophistis redditae, Lutheriana confutatio; 1521).
12. WA 8, 573–669 (De votis monasticis M. Lutheri iudicium; 1521).
13. WA 8, 676–87 (1522).
14. WA 10, 3; 1–64 (1522).
15. WA 15, 27–53 (1524).
16. Erasmus von Rotterdam, De libero Arbitrio diatribe sive collatio (1524).
17. WA 18, 600–787 (De servo arbitrio; 1525; ET The Bondage of the Will, trans. J. I.
Packer and O. R. Johnston. Westwood, NJ: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1957).
18. Erasmus von Rotterdam, Hyperaspistes diatribae adversus servum arbitrium
Martini Lutheri, 2 vols. (1526/27).
19. WA 19, 72–113 (Deutsche Messe und Ordnung Gottesdiensts; 1526).
20. WA 30, 1; 125–425 (1529).
21. WA 30, 3; 178–82 (Ein Bekenntnis christlicher Lehre und christlichen Glaubens
durch D. M. Luther in 17 Artikeln verfaßt; 1529).
22. WA 50, 192–254 (1536).